


#tw: gymnophobia

by tawnyPort



Series: HSWC 2013 [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Homestuck Shipping World Cup, Nudity, Other, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-11
Updated: 2013-06-11
Packaged: 2017-12-14 14:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/838017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tawnyPort/pseuds/tawnyPort
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Porrim, while I respect your advice as a peer and as my moirail, I feel it's necessary that I make you aware of how condescending your tone is right now. Instructing me to c-calm down at a time like this when my emotions are justifiably heightened is extremely disrespectful not only to me but to anyone else who might be being triggered right now--"</p><p>"Yours is the only voice I hear, Kankri."</p>
            </blockquote>





	#tw: gymnophobia

**Author's Note:**

> For [HSWC Bonus Round 1](http://hs-worldcup.dreamwidth.org/3493.html?thread=277925#cmt277925): “Only the Dead stay seventeen forever.”― Haruki Murakami, _Norwegian Wood_.

Her entire view goes orange and yellow and white in a fraction of a second. There's heat, so much heat, searing pain through her entire body, her dress and hair burning away, then nothing.

Meenah. This was the act of a coward and a fool, regardless of what she'll say her intentions were later. For right now, Porrim is returning to the feeling of having a body. Well, that's a relief. She'd be lying if she said the idea of spending eternity discorporeal had any appeal.

"Porrim! Please accept my apologies for engaging in that boundary-crossing method of reviving you but it seemed like the only appropriate way to proceed without losing you for all eternity and I can admit that I was acting more on emotion than rational thought, though I think it's important that you also know that that was an entirely non-sexual gesture on my part. I'm sure you're aware of my position on sexual activity and can reconcile my kissing you as a purely utilitarian gesture rather than one that should be needlessly sexualized out of context."

There were just lips on hers but now they're gone. What a shame.

She slowly sits up, relishing the sensation of her hair around her horns and brushing over her shoulders, and closes her eyes. Not even death can impede her ability to recognize that shocked tone but there's an underlying hint of fear in it now.

"Kankri? If you're talking you must be all right, calm down."

"Porrim, while I respect your advice as a peer and as my moirail, I feel it's necessary that I make you aware of how condescending your tone is right now. Instructing me to c-calm down at a time like this when my emotions are justifiably heightened is extremely disrespectful not only to me but to anyone else who might be being triggered right now--"

"Yours is the only voice I hear, Kankri." She draws her legs up toward her chest and then realizes what's going on. Her eyes snap open as her arms close around her knees. She's naked. The blast burned all her clothes away and the chances that she's the only one are exceedingly slim.

A quick glance around reveals that not only is that true but that that's likely the source of Kankri's stress. She's naked in front of him and--her head turns to follow his gaze--just past her, so is Latula. She's laying face down and his eyes are glued to her backside.

Poor thing. Confronted with the feminine--its strength and refusal to just go away in her, its allure in Latula, its violence and capacity for power when denied in Meenah--when he'd likely prefer to keep pretending it doesn't matter and focus instead on his own precious problems. He's terribly good at that.

"Yes, thank you, Porrim, I hadn't considered that I might be speaking too loudly for anyone whose hearing might have been made extra sensitive by the explosion." He lowers his voice to a whisper but he hasn't taken his eyes off Latula's prone figure. He has his arms wrapped around his knees as well but she can see his fingers digging into the flesh of his arms even from where she's sitting.

"That doesn't change the importance of what I'm trying to impart to you, however. You may not be aware of this, Porrim, though I do believe that even though you chose not to participate in my crusade for a safer society that you are still very well versed in its problematic nature, but social nudity like this is very much something that should only be engaged in with consenting individuals around. I very much doubt Meenah has any awareness of the horribly insensitive nature of this act--"

She sighs and stands, stretching. "She killed us. She blew us all up and you think the fact that we woke up naked is the insensitive part?"

"Of course not!" He finally looks away from Latula's rad booty to watch Porrim, his eyes moving down over her body until they focus tightly on her feet. He is garishly red and her heart is moved by the way the blush spreads literally to his shoulders. What must it be like, to be so terrified to love and appreciate your body in its most natural state. "I'm merely saying that there is nothing we can do about being dead at the moment. Death is the great equalizer so perhaps this will be a step forward for my movement. Perhaps now people will be willing to listen to what I have to say, now that things like relative lifespans and even blood are no longer relevant."

"Oh, blood is definitely still relevant." She can see the glow coming from her own skin but he's way too far gone to notice it. That'll be an interesting conversation. For now she just crouches down behind him, careful to keep from exposing him to the parts of her body that her dress usually conceals. That just might kill him a second time.

"This is no time for facetiousness. I will return to my appreciation of your dry and dismissive sense of humor at a later time but right now I am in severe distress and your continued refusal to acknowledge that as a valid reaction to--oh."

She leans forward and wraps an arm around his shoulders, pulling his shoulders back against her knees, and puts her chin down between his horns. It works like a charm. She can see the grip he has on his arms ease up and feel the tension start to slip out of his chest and back.

"Shh. I wasn't being dismissive when I told you to calm down. You are perfectly within your rights to be in distress right now, I don't think anyone can deny that, but freaking out like this--"

"I object to your use of such ableist language, imagine if Mituna were--"

"I'm sorry. I hope you can understand that I am also in distress right now and as a result my emotions are, to a degree, overtaking the rational side of me that would normally keep those baser linguistic impulses in check." She rolls her eyes but of course he can't see her and he doesn't respond to the sarcasm in her voice. Porrim's moirail is in many more ways than he would ever admit a very visually stimulated troll.

"Thank you. I apologize for reacting to you as though you were in a better emotional place than I am. If anything you are probably even more triggered than I am, since I know as a jadeblooded female you are probably experiencing a level of distress I cannot imagine brought on by the loss of the culture you were charged with protecting and--"

"OK, that's enough." The word distress doesn't even sound like a word anymore. She lifts her hand away from his shoulder and put it over his mouth. "Shh. Let's get away from here before the others wake up and find some clothes to put on. Nobody needs to be exposed to this if they can help it."

"Yes, you're once again quite accurate. The fewer naked people around when the others wake up, the more likely they are to feel comfortable. Perhaps we could even bring some clothes back for them, or towels or blankets. Something to cover them and preserve their sense of modest and security." He stands as she does and they both turn away from the blast site.

She thinks as they walk and he continues to chatter about the troubling nature of nudity that he never really hears her and this time was no different. She didn't want him to have to suffer being exposed to their naked friends, but he naturally projected it onto the rest of them immediately. Death was the great equalizer, he thought, but he certainly hadn't changed.

She wonders if they are all going to be nine forever.


End file.
